An evening of honoring the winning filmmakers of the 2016 Tulsa American Film Festival. We will also award a special local recipient with the Bill Blair Award for Excellence in Film Award. FREE and open to the public. Sponsored by The University of Tulsa.

During the awards ceremony, we will be debuting three short films directed by local student filmmakers, created in partnership with the Tulsa American Film Festival.

If Only - Directed by Lee Boccacci - University of Tulsa

A poetic tale of a missed connection between a straight-laced man and a troubled woman.

Unknown Caller - Directed by Marcus Young, Rogers State University

An ominous phone call forces a distraught young man to make the ultimate choice.

John Hammer: Pop Impressionist - Directed by Helen Clara Ard, University of Tulsa

Tulsa artist John Hammer discusses the origins and inspirations of his work, and gives insight into his poster designs for the Tulsa American Film Festival

SYNOPSIS:Te Ata (TAY’ AH-TAH) is based on the inspiring, true story of Mary Thompson Fisher, a woman who traversed cultural barriers to become one of the greatest Native American performers of all time. Born in Indian Territory, and raised on the songs and stories of her Chickasaw tribe, Te Ata’s journey to find her true calling led her through isolation, discovery, love and a stage career that culminated in performances for a United States president, European royalty and audiences across the world. Yet of all the stories she shared, none are more inspiring than her own.

Bisonhead

SYNOPSIS: A family of Ponderai Native American hunters journey from northern Montana to Yellowstone National Park to assert their treaty right to hunt by participating in the controversial culling of the park’s wild bison.

Kay Walkingstick: An American Artist

SYNOPSIS: Throughout her career, artist Kay Walkingstick has defied categorization. Her work has spanned styles from abstraction to realism and materials from acrylic to saponified wax creating a complex assortment of work that resists summary and generalization.

What Was Ours

DOCUMENTARY / Runtime: 89 min. / Native FilmDirected by Mat Hames

SYNOPSIS: A young Arapaho journalist and a teenage powwow princess travel from the Wind River Indian Reservation with a Shoshone elder to explore vanished artifacts kept in the archives of a museum. As the elder looks to the future, the young people look to the past to revive hope for their beloved home.

The Thunderbird Over the Whale

SYNOPSIS: Spencer McCarty is an artist working in Neah Bay Washington. An accident prevents him from fishing and whaling regularly as his ancestors once did. He has spent his life reconciling the teachings of his ancestors with the modern world he has found himself in, where whaling is not practiced.

Kivalina

SYNOPSIS: The Arctic, once a frozen and inaccessible landscape today is a highly coveted last frontier. KIVALINA tells the story of an Inupiaq Eskimo tribe whose island is disappearing into the Alaskan Arctic. With no resources to move and only a precarious sea wall to protect them, the film poetically explores the community's struggle to maintain their way of life within a landscape and a system that is failing them.

“Diversity” has become a catchphrase in the film industry that has come to stand for the inclusion of people of color on screen. In this panel we’ll look beyond this understanding of “diversity” and consider the portrayal and inclusion of other populations that have been traditionally underrepresented and/or misrepresented in film and television. Additionally we’ll discuss the accessibility of independent film exhibition and production to communities such as the autistic, deaf and hard of hearing and the blind and visually impaired.

Moderator:

Colleen Thurston, Tulsa American Film Festival Director of Programming

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the possibility of rain this evening, we will be moving our special 30th anniversary screening of Terror At Tenkiller and after party into Beehive Lounge's event space at 2409 E. Admiral, about a minute's walk from the Circle Cinema. Food trucks and the Marshall's beer truck will be parked outside the space, offering eats and drinks for sale. Please join us for this fun, free event in the historic Kendall-Whittier District!